Railroad-gate.



J. S. 6L H. J. S. STOVER.

RAILROAD GATE.

APPLIoATIoN FILED 11110.22, 1910.

Patented June 6, 1911.

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J. S. & H. J. S. STUVER.

Patented June 6,1911.

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JASPER S. STOVER AND HENERY J. S. STOVER, OF OADDO GAP, ARKANSAS.

RAILROAD-GATE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JASPER S. STOVER and HENERY J. S. STOVER, citizensof the United States, residing at Caddo Gap, in the county ofMontgomery, State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Railroad-Gates; and we do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled yin the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same.

This invention relates to railroad cattle gates and has for itsprincipal object to provide a gate that will be automatically opened bya train approaching in either direction and will have novel trainoperated trips that are connected directly to the gate withoutintervening intricate mechanism as inusual gates of this character.

i A further obj ect of the invention is to provide a cattle gate thatwill be normally held closed by means of novel tension devices.

With the above objects in view the invention consists of the noveldetails of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed, it being understood that various modificationsmay be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of theappended claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, Figure 1is a plan view of a cattle gate constructed in accordance with` ourinvention, Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 2 2 Fig.1, Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the gate applied, Fig. 4 is a plan viewof a double gate constructed in accordance with our invention.

Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of referencedesignate similar parts in the views shown, 10 designates traffic railsand 11 the supporting ties. Embedded in the road bed and arranged on theouter side of one of the traffic rails is a post 12 having on its railconfronting side hinge lugs 13 which receive hinge pintles 14: carriedby a gate 15, this gate preferably being of skeleton construction andnormally lying transversely across the treads of the traffic rails.Arranged in the vertical plane of and on either side of the hinge posts12 are a pair of posts 16, of less height than the hinge posts. A pairof helical springs 17 are fixed vto these posts and converge to theapproximate center` of the gate, these springs being fixedly securedinany preferred manner to Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 22, 1910.

Patented June 6, 1911. Serial No. 598,735.

material looped upon itself intermediate its ends to form a crank 20,the extremities of this loop being extended in alinement and formingstraight gudgeons 21 which lie in the spaces between adjacent ties andare mounted in strap bearings 22, the ends of these bearings being'spiked or otherwise secured to the ties as shown at 23. Each gudgeon ofeach trip is looped upon itself adjacent to the inner side of thecorresponding rail base fiange to form this loop being' provided with anintermediate offset 25 which inclines toward the rail head and disposesthe bight 26 of the loop in the path of movement of the car wheel flangeso that the lat-ter will impinge against i the bight in the cam loop andknock the loop forcibly in the direction of the top faces of the ties.The extremity of one cam loop is directed in a straight portion 27transversely across the bottom face of the correspond' ing rail baseflange and is thence bent abruptly upwardly nearl the outer edge of therail base flange to form a crank 28. A link 29 is connected to the freeend portion of the crank and to the lowermost secured corner of thegate. It is now clear that upon the cam loop being knocked downward bythe approach of a train, that through the instrumentality of the crank28 and link 29 the gate will be swung to open position thereby placingthe helical spring on the same side of the gate as the knocked down camloop under tension so that after the advance of the train through thegate the spring will return the gate to closed position. It will benoted that by virtue of the offset in the cam loops that the bights ofthe loops will be disposed at such a height above the rail treads as tocause the car wheel to engage the bight at a considerable height abovethe rail head and consequently more forciblyimpinge against the bight toknock down the trip than in similar devices of this character. By .thisnovel construction of cam loop, the cranks are rotated a cam loopV 24, Y

through a greater arc of movement than ordinary and hence are able toopen the gate through the instrumentality of a single link thusobviating the usual intricate mechanism employed between the crank andgate.

j A connecting rod 30 is arranged longitudinally of the ties between thetraffic rails and is preferably formed from a single length ot' straightmaterial. This connecting rod is provided with spaced eyes 31 adjacentto its opposite extremities which loosely engage the cranks 20 of thetrips. The connecting link operates when the pair of trips on eitherside of the gate is knocked down to simultaneously actuate the pair oftrips on the opposite side of the gate in the same direction thuspromoting the opening movement of the gate.

The function of providing a pair of trips on each side of the gate isthat should the cam loops of one o the trips become accidentally bent,there will still be left a trip to operate the gate until the bent tripmay be repaired or replaced with a new one.

In Fig. 4 is shown a modification of our cattle gate, in this instance apair of opposing gates 32 being arranged transversely across the traficrails and hingedly connected to posts 33 embedded in the road bedadjacent to the outer sides of the traiiic rails. A pair of short posts34 are arranged on either side of each hinge post and carry helicalsprings 35 which are fixed at their free extremities to the approximatecentral portion of each gate. A pair of trips 36 and 37 are arranged onopposite sides of the gates, these trips being identical in constructionto the trips above described in so much as each trip is formed from astraight length of material bent to form a central crank 37 and bentadjacent to its outer ends to form spaced cam loops 38 which arearranged adjacent to and extend considerably above the inner edges ofthe rail treads. The trips are secured in position by strap journals 39similar to strap journals above described. Each of the outermost tripsof each pair of trips is provided on its opposite ends with cranks 40which carry links 41 that are connected at their :tree ends to the lowerhinge corners of the gates as above described. A connecting rod 42extends longitudinally to the railway t-ies and is provided adjacent itsopposite ends with eyes 43 which loosely receive the central cranks 37of the trips and this brace rod operates when the trips on either sideof the confronting gates are knocked down to simultaneously actuate thepair of trips on the opposite sides of the gates in the same direction.

In order to assure the gate closing positively after each time it isopened, it will be observed that a post 44 is embedded in the road bedadjacent to each of the outer 65 cranks of the trip members, and ahelical spring 45 is terminally secured to this post and to the crank,the spring normallyholding the crank in operative position, and storingup energy as the crank is rotated by a passing car wheel to return thecrank to its initial position, thus cooperating with the gate springs inpositively returning the gate to closed position. It will be noted thata pair of trip members are arranged on each side of the gate, and inpractice the members of each pair are so spaced apart that after theleading wheels on a coach passes over any particular member,.and thegate begins to move to closed posit-ion under the action of thesesprings, the rear wheels on the coach will then engage with the matingmember of the pair and move the gate back to o-pen position. When thegate is designed to be used on a railroad track where the traic isalmost continuously tast, these trip members may be spaced a greatdistance apart but where the traiiic is slow as in the approaches ,tocities, a plurality or set of trip members must be arranged on each sideof the gate instead of a single pair as illustrated in order that thecar wheels may be in engagement with some particular onev of the set oftrip members at each moment during the passage of the train in thedirection ot the gate so that the gate will be maintained constantly inopen position untilrthe train has passed therethrough. i

What is claimed, is Y Y 1. A gate for railwaysy including a springcontrolledswinging gate adapted to extend transversely across trafficrails, trips adapted to be arranged transversely across said rails inthe path of movement of a train, each trip having a centrally locatedcrank the terminals of which are bent in opposite directions and formgudgeons, and further having an upstanding cam loop arranged adjacent tothe inner edge of one railbase flange and extending considerably abovethe head oit' said rail, said trip further having al crank arm arrangedadjacent to the outer edge of said rail base flange, and connectinglinks carried by said crank arms and engaging said gate for moving thegate to open position Aupon depression of said cam loops by a car wheel.

2. A gate for railways including a swinging spring controlled gateadapted to be arranged transversely across the traiic rails, a pluralityof trips arranged on opposite sides of the gate and transversely acrossthe path of movement of an advancing train, each trip having anintermediate crank, and having a cam loop disposed adjacent to the inneredge of a traiiic rail base flange, said cam loop having an intermediateoiisetextending in the direction ot said rail head and disposing thebight of said loop considerably above said rail head for engagement witha car wheel, said trip further having a terminal crank disposed beyondthe outer In testimony whereof, We aiiix our signaedge of said rail baseflange, links connecttures, in presence of tWo Witnesses. ing the cranksof said trips to said gate and JASPER S STOVER operatino to open thefrate upon actuation of said tcam loop, and a connecting link HENERY J'S' STOVER' loosely connected to the intermediate cranks Witnesses: ofsaid trips for actuating all of said trips L. C. HUEY, simultaneously.S. J. RoBBINs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

